1. I didn't like the God stuff either. That was something I thought I would not get past

in AA. But I changed my mind. Handing your power over to a god (or in my case my ancestors and nature) means you have to accept you have no power whatsoever over your addiction. That means you are no longer denial. If you admit to yourself you have no power in your addiction and never will - half the battle is won. Afterall what is it you say to yourself everytime you have a relapse "... just this once" or "I won't drink that much" or "I can handle it". Believing in a higher power, found in my case in my ancestors, means that you can never say those thing you always think when you are in denial. So you are out of denial.